


where do you run (where do you run to?)

by genderfluidmirage



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Comfort, F/F, autistic headcanons, girl i don’t know i just wanted them to be soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:54:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24831925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genderfluidmirage/pseuds/genderfluidmirage
Summary: Ajay's missing during dinner and Natalie goes to find her.
Relationships: Lifeline | Ajay Che/Wattson | Natalie Paquette
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	where do you run (where do you run to?)

**Author's Note:**

> haha hey welcome back to the shit show this just a bare bones short thing of softness i have a hard time writing these days but im thirsty for wattline and i have strong autistic headcanons for them anyway i hope yall like this hmu on twitter @ lovecoremirage k bye

Mondays are for press.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they train, and on Fridays and Saturdays they play. Sunday, they get to rest. But Mondays are for press, and usually after that, everyone comes back to the Apex living facility and has dinner catered by Apex itself. 

It took time to get used to the routine, but now that she was adjusted, Natalie rather liked it. It was reliable, and there was plenty of wiggle room to conduct her own habits. Though it could become frustrating when others did not engage properly. It was difficult for her to deal with disruption. Like now - Ajay, her girlfriend and principal meal buddy, had disappeared. 

Looking up and down the table, while other legends readily dug into tin foil containers of hot food, she caught Mirage’s eye and lifted her hands to sign to him; _Have you seen Ajay?_ She watches him pause, take a look around the room, and frown. In answer he simply shakes his head. 

Natalie pouts and then sees him sign to her, _Need help?_ But she waves him off, and gets up off the school lunchroom style bench, and leaves the cafeteria area in search of Ajay. 

She is not in her facility quarters, nor any of the training room.

Natalie tries to resist the feeling of agitation saturating her mood now. She just wants to eat, but she also wants Ajay to be there with her. It worried her to now know where the other woman was. 

Further investigation found the showers empty, the common room empty… It would be odd if she was not here, they had agreed to workout together early the next morning and it seemed more work than it was worth to go back to her offbase place. The search and the unsettled feeling were getting worse, and eventually Natalie opted to head out to the open yard of the facility in the hopes that the evening cool air would calm her. 

This was where she found Ajay. 

The other woman was at the top of a set of bleachers, set up alongside a basketball court.

For a moment, Natalie pauses, struck just by how - how beautiful Ajay was. She had let her hair down, straightened strands beginning to curl back up in the light humidity, and the moonlight kissed her face and made her otherwise subtle freckles quite noticeable. 

Sometimes it was overwhelming, the way looking at Ajay made her feel; it was the same bubbling excitement that curled in her chest and rocketed through her arms, the same kind of energy that made her happily rub her hands together and bounce. Joyous sparks. 

She did as much now, flapping her hands a little to channel how energized Ajay’s beauty made her tonight. And then she called out softly: “Ajay? Are you okay?”

Ajay glances at her, and her expression seems...glum. 

“Hiya Nat,” she murmurs, and then she slides a few inches over and pats the bleacher space next to her in invitation. Natalie doesn’t need to be told twice - she quickly steps up the benches and sits next to Ajay, hands in her lap. She’s glad she’s wearing a long skirt today, because she hated the feel of the bleacher’s cold metal on her skin. It wasn’t like her tinkering piece and tools in her lab. 

“Are you okay, Ajay?” she repeats her earlier words, like retracing steps.

“I’m fine.” She’s turned away again to look at the night sky, lit brightly by three of Solace’s four moons. Her next words are stilted, weighed down by the effort it was taking to produce them. “Um… today was hard. Lots of questions. Lots of photos. My parents, seems they, ah, recently sold some companies to Hammond Robotics. Lotta questions about that one, for sure.”

“Ah,” Natalie agrees, chewing her lip hard and frowning too, watching Ajay swing her legs over the edge of the bleacher bench. Probably not a happy stim, she thought. 

“I’m just –” Natalie notices the way her hands clench and unclench several times in quick succession, and already her own heart squeezes just like the muscles in Ajay’s hands. Natalie recognizes that one. Sign of distress, one they had talked about. 

Natalie reaches out timidly, palm up, and Ajay looks to her, and willingly rests her hand on top of Natalie’s. Natalie presses her thumb to the center of Ajay’s palm; an anchoring gesture. A quiet _I’m here. It’s okay. Just breathe._

It seems to do its job, because after a few cycles of deep breathing, she’s more ready to speak.

“It’s frustrating,” she murmurs eventually, “I have done.. So much more with my life. I’ve traveled with aid groups, and donated every last cent I could take with me to these communities that are still in ruins ‘cause of people like my parents. I want to help people.”

She rubs the heel of her free hand under a watery eye. “I don’t mind playing up a character for them, you know. After all, they’re called games for a reason: everybody wants a show. But at least that - at least that’s an exaggeration, you know? I’d rather share an exaggeration with the world than something completely different. I’m… I’m tired of being connected to them. Held responsible for their decisions.”

She looks at Natalie, wide brown eyes tearful.

“Oh…. Ajay.” Natalie shifts to sandwich Ajay’s hand between both her own, warm but rough from the callouses on her hands from tinkering. She rubs, and squeezes, as soothing a touch as she can manage, “Listen, it’s not your fault… You have always been… How do I say? You are straightforward. Honest. You joke, but anyone with half a brain can tell what you really think and care about.”

Natalie chews on her lip, hesitating before she carries on.

“There will always be assholes like this. They want to see you break, because it is good TV. It’s - it’s the price of getting what we want out of these games. But anything they say for the camera doesn’t matter, you know what does? You, You matter, and the work you do because of your games career. So fuck them. You hear me?”

Ajay’s lower lip trembles as she smiles, and tears leak out of her eyes, but Natalie knows (hopes) they are not wholly hurt by tears. She lifts a hand timidly, and with a nod of affirmation from Ajay, goes to cup her cheek and thumb the tears away gently.

“Can I kiss you?” Natalie asks softly. 

Ajay sighs out, “Yes,” and when they kiss it’s sweet and Natalie is pretty sure she can feel the relief that floods Ajay, with the way her tense body relaxes and she turns her hand over to squeeze Natalie’s free one. 

Nobody on earth has softer lips, Natalie’s pretty sure, and she’s content to hungrily kiss Ajay until her lungs start to burn and she pulls away and they both sway with similarly jubilant energy. These are her favorite moments with Ajay, whether they are kissing, or laid in bed together, or just watching a movie idly. These moments where their exuberant emotions are in sync.

“Sorry you had a hard day,” Natalie murmurs, and she nuzzles the side of Ajay’s face. “Let’s make it better. You wanna look for dessert? I think dinner came with angel food cake.” She giggles, “Angel food for my angel?”

“Stop,” Ajay mumbles, and this close Natalie can feel the heat in her cheeks as she flushes, and she leans forward to press a quick peck of a kiss to Nat’s forehead. “Thank you. I love you. I’m sorry I disappeared during dinner… I know how you are about routine.”

“I’m a big girl, I can handle it,” Natalie returns, but internally she appreciates the recognition.

She stands, helps Ajay up too, and in the twinks of the moons’ light she feels warm once more. In turn, each of them steps down, and as they return to the halls of the facility to make their way back to the kitchen, Ajay laces her fingers with Natalie’s.


End file.
